No One to Trust: A Novel (Eve Duncan)

Elena Kyler is a mercenary assassin who was trained by her own father, and now she's on the run from drug lord Rico Chavez. She's made a deal with DEA agent Forbes to get her out of Columbia with safe haven in the United States and her bargaining chip is the one thing Chavez will risk everything for---even setting foot in the US where he could be captured. What Elena has is his five-year-old son, Barry. He wants little Barry who was not born out of love, but of rape, and he wants Elena dead. Chavez is used to getting what he wants.

Elena insisted Forbes come by himself, but he has enlisted the help of soldier of fortune, Sean Galen, despite her protests, and it's a good thing. Chavez's men kill Forbes, leaving Elena depending upon Galen to get her to the States. After a harrowing escape from Columbia they go into hiding along with the former priest who helped raise Barry. But Chavez is on their trail, just as Elena suspected he would be. At first he sends his men, but when Galen and Elena outsmart them, Chavez comes after her himself. That's when it gets wild.

After being discovered at a safe house, Galen hides Elena and Barry at a ranch he owns. Although they try to resist it, Galen and Elena fall into an affair and in the process fall in love. Meanwhile, Barry is bonding with Galen's ranch foreman, Judd. Chavez has offered a ransom of millions of dollars for Barry, but Elena turns him down. Then Barry disappears and the chase is on. They think Chavez has taken him but then matters get worse when it's revealed that Judd snatched him to collect the reward. Will Chavez get his son and kill Elena and Galen? Will Barry try to escape from Judd to get back to his mom, or is he perfectly content going on an adventure with his new friend?

I personally liked the end better than the very beginning. Once they settled into the cat and dog game I found myself really pushing on to find out what happens, and I won't spoil the ending for you. I thought Barry seemed pretty smart for a five year old, but then there are kids like that. I would say it's worth the read.

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Iris Johansen does a good gob with this title, as the reader really does not know who to trust throughout the story.
Elena Kyler is a cold hearted assassin, and a loving mother of a five year old boy, and it is the mother inside of her that must, at all costs, protect young Barry from his guerrilla/terrorist/assassin father. Elena Kyler will stop at nothing to keep the boy safe. Barry's father, Chavez, will also stop at nothing to get his boy. To Chavez, sons are a sign of manhood, of dignity, pride, strength and power. To Elena, sons, especially hers, are beautiful people to be loved and taken care of. People must die, and many do, and the reader is tricked time and agian with the friend/foe decisions. Both Elena and Chavez are stubborn and believe they are undefeatable. Plenty of action in this book, and not a bad plot. As long as Elena and Chavez remember that one wrong move, one wrong trusted person, and the boy's life will be arranged - forever.

Sean Galen has been a secondary character in several of Iris Johansen's book and he finally gets his own story. No one to Trust is the story of rebel Elena- who is trying to protect her son from his rapist father, a columbian drug lord (Chavez)
Helping Elena is Sean Galen, but their efforts to keep her son safe are thwarted by Chavez's determination to get his son by any means. He sends hitman to kill those protecting her and offers staggering amounts of money to bribe anyone--the identity of the final betrayer certainly comes as a shock. Amid the battle, the romance between Elena and Galen is believable, but the secondary characters of Dominic, Jared etc added to the book's readability. It was also nice to mention her past characters- logan.
This book was a combination of adventure, romance, suspence and is a great book to read! Can't wait for her next!

Albeit the book's finish is pretty predictable, but only at the last quarter of it. This reading is an excellent one since you begin to read it. You'd not be able to put the book down and maybe you'll finish it in a sitting. I don't know if it could be true the story of the drug dealer, but maybe it might.

I have to tell you that Eve Dunkan is not my favorite character and I don't know why IJ has to mention her in all of her books. But believe me, in this one her name is written just twice and she never appears.

As I always said: When you read a book and you can't think of anything else except the book, no-matter if you are at the movies, with friends, in a party. That book deserves SIX stars.

Elena Kyler will protect her son and keep him away from the man who raped her at all costs. Rico Chavez will kill anyone who stands in the way of getting his son back from the woman he raped, and more than that, he wants the woman, Elena, dead as well.

Sean Galen (from the past couple IJ books) has sworn to protect her. He's super tough and Elena's tough too, but Rico is closing in, killing everyone that gets in his way.

Five stars for this thriller from Iris Johansen, she gets better with every book she writes.

There are certain authors that continue to amaze me as to the loyalty of their fans; Dan Brown comes to mind, and now Iris Johansen can be added to my list. Both authors attempt to develop nerve racking suspense in their stories, but their lack of sophistication and skill ruins any potential for an enjoyable story.

While reading this book, I was continually trying to determine what aspect of this book bothered me so much. Was it the fact that the author makes only the most amateur attempt at developing the story outside of the monotonous dialog? Maybe it was the continual peaks inside of Elena Kyler's thoughts as she relentlessly tried to convince herself that she was not weak. On the other hand, maybe I was irritated with the lame attempt at conveying setting and emotion, or maybe it was just the fact that the chemistry between the main protagonists was virtually non-existent.

Personally, I tired almost immediately of the dialog between Elena and Sean Galen as they clumsily tried to relate to each other. I mean seriously, Elena says "I want you to screw me"? This is how the author finally resolves the clichéd sexual tension between the woman who wants to remain independent, and the utterly unrealistic, invulnerable macho machine she is forced to rely upon.

There are several points in the book that the author handles as if she just isn't up to the task of finishing the story properly. For instance, Elena does not immediately try to kill the man who betrayed her at the end of the book, but instead the desire for revenge is just forgotten. In another part, one of the secondary villains confronts the mother of a lawyer who knows Sean Galen, they torture her, and then all of a sudden the bad guys know exactly where Sean and Elena are hidden. The story would have been greatly improved with the removal of this sloppy revelation.

The character of Berry is dull and unrealistic, and he is never shown to have the curiosity and uncertainty that 5 year old children do. He never questions what's going on around him with any serious effort. When he does begin to question his mother about his circumstances, it is short lived and shallow. Again, it appears that the author could not be inconvenienced to follow through on this crucial point.

Overall, I felt this story could have been written by a talented 8th grader. Given that this story is written by an adult for mostly adults, I am just shocked at the praise I have seen heaped on this book. I guess I'm going to have to pester my wife to write some good stories so the abundance of horrible literature out there doesn't ruin the world!

As expected, this book was compelling. It's not part of the Eve Duncan series, but it is about Sean Galen which plays a big part in several of that series. Definitely read if you're reading that series.

Iris Johansen used to write kick-... stories and then something happened and she started churning out second-rate missives. This book is no exception.
The heroine Elena was interesting enough but I found her reactions too inconsistent. For my tastes, she came to trust Logan and then Galen way too easily especially in light of her years of guerilla training. I fully expected her to go off on her own once she made it to the states because the author wanted her readers to believe the heroine could take care of any problem, big or small. Instead the heroine becomes dependent on 2 men she never met before.
The hero, Galen was presented well at the beginning of the novel but veered to the ridiculous toward the middle of the story when he started using phrases like "awesome security system" which left me with a sudden vision of a surfer assassin or a caricature instead of the seasoned special ops guy he was supposed to be.
In addition, I thought the character of Elena's kid was not properly developed. He seemed too young and trusting for a child used to living in the jungles of South America with a guerilla mother in the middle of drug wars. To be fair, the book did make a point of stressing that Elena tried to keep her son as free from her life as possible but I found it hard to believe that the life the child was forced to live did not make a greater impact on his overall trust and naivety.
Finally, I found that Elena's attraction to Galen and her capitulation to that attraction happened too swiftly and very unbelievably. One minute she was reliving her repeated rapes and the next she wanted to jump Galen's bones in an effort to remove the bad memories from her psyche. Huh? I just did not believe a woman would feel this way, especially a woman hardened by the type of life Elena was forced to live.
Overall this is a book I can easily dismiss as dreck and not worth your time or hard-earned money. If you want to read this latest outing of Iris Johansen, check it out from your local library.

See book description above.
As noted by other reviewers this does not stand out as one of Johansen's best. She delivers a quick and suspenseful story with somewhat shallow characters, and spends a little to much time trying to give Elena and Sean's relationship depth.
There is one thing that bothers me about stories like this. The author describes throughout the whole book how torturous and evil and murderous the bad man is and even describes the brutal tortures. Why is it these bad guys always get the easy way out? Painless Death. Sorry for ranting.
Recommended

The story starts with a girl named Elena Kyler who is a rebel in southern Colombia. She is fighting against a drug lord named Chavez. He founds out about Elena skills in fighting so he have his men to go and capture her. Five years later she is fighting for her life and the life of her child Barry. Never really trusting anyone she must call for help, so she turns to a man called Forbes. He has been after Chavez for many years not really trusting what Elena said he ask Sean Galen to go and bring Elena to the United States where he would be able to watch over her. Chavez finds out about this plan and tries to keep Elena in Colombia but in the end he had fail. He learns that she is in the U.S. and sends his men to kill her and to bring back his son Barry. So the game starts with Galen, Elena and Barry running away from Chavez's men. In the progress Galen and Elena fall in love which made both of them blind to Judd true form. Judd decides to take Barry away from Elena one night and calls Chavez to make a trade for thirty million dollars, but when he was doing this he was calling Elena and telling her where they are going to do the exchange so Elena could kill Chavez and get Barry. In the end would Elena be able to get Barry back? Or will she pay the ultimate price: Her life.

The book "No one to Trust" is a heart stopping action pack/ love story which will keep the reader on the edge of their seats. This story will keep you guessing up to the very end and all emotions the author uses are very powerful that it makes the reader feel life they are apart of the story and you just want to kill Chavez for all he has done.

Rico Chavez. A merciless, cunning killer and drug dealer, Chavez is powerful, and gets whatever he wants. And what he wants is Elena Kyler and her son Barry. He wants Elena dead, and Barry for himself... because Barry is his son.
Escaping from a prison cell, Elena meets up with Sean Galen, the charismatic, charming man whom she doesn't particulary like. But she'll have to rely on him for help... to keep herself and her son alive.
NO ONE TO TRUST was a pretty good read...but had a rather bland ending. Although far from bad, it doesn't live up to previous Johansen novels.

Rico Chavez. A merciless, cunning killer and drug dealer, Chavez is powerful, and gets whatever he wants. And what he wants is Elena Kyler and her son Barry. He wants Elena dead, and Barry for himself... because Barry is his son.
Escaping from a prison cell, Elena meets up with Sean Galen, the charismatic, charming man whom she doesn't particulary like. But she'll have to rely on him for help... to keep herself and her son alive.
NO ONE TO TRUST was a pretty good read...but had a rather bland ending. Although far from bad, it doesn't live up to previous Johansen novels.

This is my first Johansen novel. "No One To Trust" is action packed and moves with the speed of an assassin's bullet. The reader is drawn into a narrative filled with brutality, betrayal and the beauty of finally finding loyalty and Trust. This novel has turned me into a Johansen fan and I can't wait to pick up another of her adventures. The author is a Talented Story teller.
Beverly J Scott author of RIGHTEOUS REVENGE

Iris Johansen is one of my favorite authors, so much so that I customarily buy her books in hard back. In previous books Sean's character was intriguing, so I found myself looking forward to his story with great anticipation. When I finished the novel I didn't have any better insight into his character than before I began to read it. The entire novel fell flat from beginning to end. There was no tension between the characters, no excitement, no intrigue. In short, the mediocre character and plot development resulted in a shallow, disappointing book. I don't like to end a review on a negative note, so I will state Ms. Johansen is a wonderful writer, and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of her previous mysteries.

Elena Kyler tries to get herself and her five-year-old son out of Colombia safely, and into the US. Again, I still don't understand what John Logan and Sean Galen do for a living. And why does the author always get her female characters to have sex with men they know just about nothing about? Just seems a bit sluttish. (C+)

Another good read by Iris Johansen. Found this offered through the store at a good price. It arrived within the alloted time frame and was well packaged. Thanks the store for making my shopping so easy. EP

I find that Iris Johansen's books are always full of intrique and adventure. Full and interesting plots some with repeated characters so you find you want to read the books in order. Her books are also an easy read.

This book was boring, predictable, ...like a dimestore romance, it was worth about 10 cents! The worst I've read by her and I'm a fan. I'm glad I didn't buy this book, but read it from the Library. Even there ...my tax dollars were wasted!

This is my first Iris Johansen book and definitely will not be the last. Although Elena seems too physically tough to believe, she's a great character, a good match for Sean Galen. There's plenty of action with this fast-paced story.

I agree with Laura Dawson's review, been there, done that, why are we doing it again? I kept asking myself haven't you already read this? I couldn't come up with a title, but boy it sure seemed familar. This was an okay book, not great, just okay. I expected better from Iris.